Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway coming to Summer Sessions Aug. 20

Next Saturday, Aug. 20, Oak Ridge plays host to the most exciting bluegrass band in the solar system when Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway take the outdoor stage at Bissell Park for the show of the year at Summer Sessions.

In her previous appearance at Summer Sessions, Tuttle was only a year or two out of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, a new transplant to Nashville, universally recognized as a guitar goddess, but as awkward and oddly tenuous on stage as a cat on a frozen pond. The band backing her had no personal connection to her. They were just the best hired hands available at the time to support the young groundbreaker on her maiden voyage in the world of endless touring. Her performance was astounding, but there was something just plain disjointed about it. And Molly Tuttle wasn’t really in her element. In my opinion, whoever produced that summer’s tour dates for her didn't have a clue what she was about.

This time around, it’s a totally different story.

With Golden Highway, Molly Tuttle is part of the band she was meant to have around her. With Dominick Leslie on mandolin, Bronwyn Keith-Hines on fiddle, Shelby Means on bass, and Kyle Tuttle (no relation) on banjo, Molly Tuttle’s stage persona has a quality that has been noticeably absent until now — happiness!

And it’s amazing what happiness can do for a performer.

Every person in this band is an apex performer, at the very top of their game. And they allow Molly Tuttle’s preternatural talents to now flow out through her music with an ease, a laughter, a delightful magnetism that’s irresistible.

The band’s new album “Crooked Tree” feels like a perfectly wrapped birthday surprise, containing everything Molly Tuttle has always loved about bluegrass. It’s personal. Plus Billy Strings and Dan Tyminski are on it. That never hurts.

Please, Oak Ridge and Knoxville, please come out in droves next Saturday to see Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway. She is the kind of artist who comes around only once in a lifetime. She is the cutting edge, the avantgarde of American roots music.

Molly Tuttle is shaping and endowing the future of bluegrass. She is the promise of a young genius. And as Sam Bush has said, bluegrass isn’t just for boys anymore.

But Molly Tuttle is even more than a great bluegrass star, because she fearlessly takes on other music. See her take on Phantogram’s “You Don’t Get Me High Anymore” and you’ll see an interpretation that Jimi Hendrix would be jealous of. It just proves something Ricky Skaggs told me: if you can play bluegrass, you can play anything.

I’ll have more on Molly Tuttle next Friday, but for now, please make plans to come to Summer Sessions next Saturday at 6 p.m.

ORNL Federal Credit Union had the vision for these Summer Sessions events, and since 2018 they have treated this very special community to live performances by many of the biggest names in bluegrass and Americana music, in a fun, laid-back, family-friendly venue. Ricky Skaggs. The McCourys. Sierra Hull. Michael Cleveland. Jim Lauderdale. Alex Leach. Dan Tyminski. And with Molly Tuttle's return engagement Aug. 20, the Summer Sessions vision is in sharp focus. Bring the best.

Say what you will about the Hogslop String Band’s silly name, but their kickoff concert for Summer Sessions was the kind of happening you never forget. The Dan Tyminski Band’s show in Kingston for the second Summer Sessions show was one which I personally will always remember, because Tyminski’s band was five of the most talented young musicians in America. And the Alex Leach/Jim Lauderdale concert exceeded my very high expectations because the sunlight that afternoon, the size of the audience, the perfection of the sound engineering by Jonathan Maness and his Pellissippi State audio crew, and the amazing performances by Alex’s band and Jim’s All-Star Nashville line-up were simply world-class.

There’s an interesting intersection between Dan Tyminski and Molly Tuttle, since they’re both in this season’s Summer Sessions. They do a beautiful duet on Tyminski’s new EP recording “One More Time Before You Go,” a tribute to the late bluegrass guitar genius Tony Rice. The “Church Street Blues” has never been more heartfelt and relevant.

I asked Tyminski what it's like to sit across from Molly Tuttle in a recording studio to lay down a tune for Tony Rice.

He said, "Molly Tuttle has my fascination in one of the same ways Tony Rice did. She has a style in her right hand that's awesome. It's uniquely hers, and only hers. With her musicality and sense of timing, she is a joy not only to listen to, but to play with as well. She brought new life to a Norman Blake classic that Tony Rice had made his."

And there has never been a better example of how an experienced artist and a prodigy can join forces to create an impetus greater than its parts. See my review of Tyminski’s EP at americanahighways.com.

Next Saturday evening, come see, hear, and experience Molly Tuttle at A.K. Bissell Park outside the Oak Ridge Civic Center, in the concert series that's the envy of towns around the country. It’s kinda hard to believe. We live in an amazing place.

John Job is a longtime Oak Ridge resident and frequent contributor to The Oak Ridger.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway coming to Summer Sessions Aug. 20